BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 / Ian McKellen event.

**Posted by besleybean** August 10, 2019 12:47 pm

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to gain tickets to go to this event at the Dundee Rep theatre.
Ian was generally hilarious.
But he told one tale, pertinent to here.
He was saying how it drives him crazy that nobody can ever spell his name correctly.
He said it got so bad that at one time he even considered changing his name.
He explained how he was working with Timothy Carlton at the time, his wife Wanda had just given birth to their son.
Ian related what Timothy said to him:
"I know what you are saying. Would you believe my real surname is 'Cumberbatch'? I mean really, can you imagine any actor ever having success with a name like that!"
It did get a laugh. Though naturally I worked out the punchline before others!
There was a photo of Benedict + Ian in the programme.

Last edited by besleybean (August 10, 2019 12:49 pm)

**Posted by Liberty** August 10, 2019 3:29 pm

Thank you for sharing! So funny! Although I think Benedict Cumberbatch is easier to spell than Ian/Iain McKellen/MacKellen/McKellan/etc.

**Posted by besleybean** August 10, 2019 3:32 pm

Maybe so!
The other thing that got a real laugh, was Ian confessing he has the hots for Legolas...but then, don't we all?

**Posted by Yitzock** August 10, 2019 6:59 pm

I suppose "Cumberbatch" is fairly phonetic in its spelling, while "McKellen" could be misspelled a few ways.
Heck, my mom and one of her friends both used to think Gary Oldman's name was Gary Oldham!

**Posted by besleybean** August 10, 2019 7:02 pm

I actually prefer Oldham as a name...though I have rather unhappy memories of the place.

**Posted by Yitzock** August 10, 2019 10:51 pm

I never really thought one way or the other about which sounded better (although Oldham does have a nice sound to it, I suppose). I just found it funny that she had gotten his name wrong all these years, and when I tried to correct her she didn't believe me and had to google it for herself. This was right after we had seen the film Darkest Hour, and she would have seen his name recently.

**Posted by besleybean** August 11, 2019 6:01 am

The big one for me is :
Richard DawkinS
But Stephen HawkinG
Nobody gets those right!

**Posted by nakahara** August 14, 2019 6:35 am

Sounds like a very nice event. Thank you for sharing!

**Posted by besleybean** August 14, 2019 6:53 am

A real joy and it will stay with me forever.
What a lovely and remarkable man.